Good And Bad Aspects to Be Found in the New Funding Arrangement for Doctoral Students Working on a Scholarship

The Finnish Cultural Foundation is about to make a blanket agreement with Universities on the status of those who have received a research scholarship. As a new form of support, the Finnish Cultural Foundation offers Doctoral Students the possibility of combining the scholarship with a salaried employment relationship. The Finnish Union of Researchers and Teachers find both good and bad aspects in this proposal.

This blanket agreement to be made with Universities offers those Doctoral Students, who have been granted a scholarship by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and who want to make an agreement about the preconditions to perform research in the University, the same kind of basic conditions that the Doctoral Students and researchers with a full-time contract and similar duties have. This blanket agreement applies to Doctors as well, at the University's discretion.

The basic conditions mentioned above include among other things proper working and laboratory facilities, proper chances for communication, postal services, and the possibility to use printing, library and IT-services in the same manner as other Doctoral Students and reseachers do.

The scholarships that the Finnish Cultural Foundation grants for research include the overhead, if they are for four months or more. The amount of the overhead is 1600 euros. The recipients of the scholarships take care of the paying of the overhead themselves after making a personal contract with the University. If the recipients of the scholarships do not wish to make an agreement on the prerequisites of research with the University, they can arrange for the necessary facilities etc. themselves by using the scholarship.

- The improving of the status of those who are granted a scholarship is a good thing. What makes me wonder, though, is why the covering of the overhead is left to the recipient of the scholarship. Could this not be dealt with between the Foundation and the University straightforwardly, without the recipient as the intermediary. On the other hand, this procedure practically ascertains that the agreement on the facilities is made with the University. At the same time, the scholarship becomes a more visible element as part of the University's funding, comments Eeva Rantala, the executive manager of the Finnish Union of Researchers and Teachers, on this reform.

Employment relationship of 56% for Doctoral Students?

The terminology concerning post-graduate and post-doctoral researchers is manyfold and varied, depending on the country and the form and source of funding. The EU makes a difference between early-stage-researchers and after four years of researching, experienced researchers: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/rights/definitions). This text will apply the term 'Doctoral Student' in cases, where the Doctoral dissertation is not yet ready.

As a new form of support, the Finnish Cultural Foundation offers Doctoral Students the possibility of combining the research grant with a salaried employment relationship, so that together these components enable full-time research.

In this funding arrangement, those Doctoral Students, who are in a part-time (56%) employment relationhip to a University or some other research institute, may apply for a full year's scholarship from the Finnish Cultural Foundation (24 000 euros) to be used within the time-span of two years. Correspondingly, the scholarship for six months can be applied for in the purpose of using it within twelve months.

This combination of scholarship and salary, introduced as a new funding form, raises questions. If a Doctoral Student has a part-time employment relationship of 56% of the full-time contract, he/she can apply for a grant as supplementary funding. But if these applications fail, there will soon develop groups of poorly funded part-time dissertation writers into Universities. The good thing compared to a full-time scholarship here is the possibility to use occupational health services.

- The bad thing is the extremely low level of earnings-related unemployment allowance. The allowance will in these cases be determined on the basis of that 56% of the full salary. Consequently, it would remain under 1 000 euros per month for Doctoral Students, executive manager Rantala observes.

According to the latest member enquiry of The Finnish Union of Researchers and Teachers, 19% of the members had been unemployed during the past two years – with Doctoral Students, the number was even higher.

Kone Foundation has no plans similar to those of The Finnish Cultural Foundation.

- Instead, we approve of the arrangement, where the organization pays an increment to a Doctoral Student, who has received a full one-year scholarship from us, thereby raising the level of income to that of those in employment relationship and also enabling the use of occupational health services, among other things. Such arrangements have been done in some organizations, says the Head of Research Affairs, Kalle Korhonen, from the Kone Foundation.

text Kirsti Sintonen

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